Noun: charabia
Gender: m
Hyphenation:
| Singular m | charabia |
| Plural m | charabias |
Sample Sentences
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Qu'est-ce que c'est que ce charabia? (What is this gibberish?)
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Qu'est-ce que c'est que ce charabia, ô Vicévertus, médecin-chef de mes armées ? (Asterix and the White Iris) [2023, Fabcaro, Didier Conrad, L'iris blanc [Asterix and the White Iris] (Asterix), Vanves: Hachette, →ISBN, page 6:]
Nouns inflected like charabia
trichogramme,
wintergreen,
urinoir,
contrespionnage,
aréomètre,
palefroi,
whiskey,
whippin,
tee-shirt,
hypocycloïde,
surrisque,
lanternon,
dissentiment,
phonogramme,
phonographe,
trioxygène,
fétichisme,
synode,
synthé,
modérantisme, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
1. Attested since at least 1838, originally to denote the incomprehensible talk of Auvergnats.
2. The further etymology is uncertain. It's believed to possibly mimick a perceived Auvergnat pronunciation of /s/ as /ʃ/. Others theorize it's derived from Occitan charrar (“to chatter”), or Franco-Provençal charabarat (horse market).
3. A borrowing from Spanish algarabía has been theorized but deemed less likely from a phonetic and geographic perspective.
Translations